How do brand experiences create enchantment?
A case study of Polestar
Bachelor thesis in marketing
School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg Fall 2020
Supervisor Benjamin Hartmann
Authors Elvira Jonsson William Gärdfors
Abstract
Enchantment, creating something extraordinary, is a key factor in branding and marketing activities today. In a world where digitalization and globalization is growing, it is important for brands to stand out in order to be competitive. Standing out can be done with a brand experience that triggers consumers feelings of something extraordinary and magical, something enchanting.
The purpose of this study is to analyse how brand experiences can create enchantment, which will be studied through a case study of the automotive manufacturer Polestar. In order to fulfil the purpose, theories regarding brand experience, experiential marketing, brand experience online as well as theories regarding enchantment and authenticity are presented. Previous research on brand experience shows that it is crucial in marketing, however, further research regarding enhancement within the context of brand experience needs to be done. This study will analyse the relationship between the two. The empirical data is conducted through two semi structured interviews with Polestar as well as through netnographic observations. The findings highlight three main factors within Polestar's brand experience that creates enchantment: through authentic Scandinavian feel, through minimalistic and modern design and through innovative consumer-focused technology.
Keywords: brand experience, online brand experience, marketing, enchantment, authenticity
Table of contents
1. Introduction ... 1
1.1 Background ... 1
1.2 Problem discussion ... 2
1.3 Purpose ... 3
1.4 Research question ... 3
1.5 Why we chose Polestar for the study ... 3
2. Theoretical Framework ... 4
2.1 Brand experience ... 4
2.2 Experiential marketing ... 6
2.3 Brand experience online ... 8
2.3.1 Constantinides virtual factors ... 8
2.3.2 Hamzah’s dimensions of online brand experiences ... 9
2.4 Enchantment ... 10
2.5 Authenticity ... 11
3. Method ... 14
3.1 Research approach ... 14
3.2 Data collection ... 15
3.2.1 Interview ... 15
3.2.2 Netnography ... 16
3.2.3 Additional observations ... 18
3.4 Ethical considerations ... 18
3.5 Limitations ... 20
3.6 Pandemic considerations... 20
3.7 Research context ... 21
4. Result & analysis ... 22
4.1 Overview ... 22
4.2 Enchantment through authentic Scandinavian feel ... 22
4.3 Enchantment through minimalistic and modern design ... 26
4.4 Enchantment through innovative consumer focused technology ... 30
5. Discussion ... 36
5.1 Marketing implications ... 36
5.2 Critical evaluation of the study ... 37
5.3 Further research ... 38
6. Conclusion ... 39
References ... 41
Appendix ... 45
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1. Introduction
In this chapter the topic of the study will be introduced. The relevance of the topic will be presented as well as a problem discussion, followed by the purpose of the study and the main research questions. Lastly, a summary of why Polestar was chosen as a case study is presented.
1.1 Background
Hartmann and Brunk (2018) states the growing importance of enchantment being implemented in today’s branding and marketing activities. Enchantment is a term that defines extraordinary and magical factors. Consumers today are looking and longing for something genuine and real, something authentic, and something dreamlike and magical, something enchanting (Hartmann
& Brunk, 2018). Everyday life is focused on rationality, a reasonableness that has resulted in less imagination, wonder, romance as well as magic in today’s society. Hartmann and Brunk (2018) states that enchantment, or the feeling of something special, are an important part for humans, and as the need for enchantment is growing, creating enchantment for the customers can lead to competitive advantages.
Companies may create enchantment for their customers in different ways. One way to do this is, according to Hartmann and Brunk (2018), through branding. A key component of branding is a brand's brand experience. When successfully creating a brand experience it can create enchantment, something extraordinary, and in an increasingly competitive marketplace, due to globalization and digitization, enchantment can also act as a differentiating factor amongst other brands.
Brand experience is the collection of thoughts, feelings, sensations as well as the actions that a brand evokes amongst consumers, according to Brakus, Zarantonello and Schmitt (2009).
Consumption today does not only revolve around a product, more so an experience which can be created by factors such as a brand's communication, environment, identity, design, and packaging. Brand experience can be created fully physically when visiting a physical store and the consumer is affected by factors such as sight, scents, sound, touch and taste (Schmitt, 1999).
However due to the growing digitalisation, a lot of brands have shifted from physical to a more digital presence. In early 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic also hit the world which forced more companies to rapidly shift to a larger online presence (McKinsey, 2020). While the digitalisation has been quick in some industries, it has been implemented slower within the car
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industry (Kipferler, 2018). The car industry has traditionally taken place physically, which also means that brands were building and creating brand experience mainly for physical sales, while now creating brand experiences both online and physically.
Polestar is a new player within the car industry that has implemented digitalisation as their main communication channel, operating mainly online, while still having some physical presence through physical showrooms, what they and this study will further refer to as “spaces”. Polestar is “a design-focused electric performance car brand, harnessing refined performance and cutting-edge technology” (polestar, n.d). Polestar sells cars, a physical product but, as their head of analysis Fredrik Cederlöf emphasizes, the brand is primarely digital with sales and service online (Englund, 2020). Polestars combine their online presence with their “spaces”, where experience as well as design are in focus. This means that Polestar is standing out in the automotive industry by delivering a brand experience that is mainly online, with sales and services, but complemented physically through the spaces.
As digitalization is less mature within the car industry, brand experience online has not been explored as much as in other industries, therefore we wanted to further research how a brand like Polestar within the automotive industry creates enchantment through brand experience physically and online.
1.2 Problem discussion
Due to the growing demand for enchantment amongst consumers today and the importance of differentiation between brands, as a result of the growing globalisation and digitalisation, creating enchantment can be seen as critical in order to attract today's consumers. As mentioned above, brand experience is an important part in creating an extraordinary and magical feel, something enchanting, amongst consumers and includes today the brand experience that is created physically as well as the experience created online.
Previous research of enchantment has been made in other contexts, such as the relationship between enchantment and nostalgia as well as authenticity and enchantment, however further research needs to be done for the relationship between enhancement and brand experience in order for marketers to create a successful brand experience that meet today’s demand for enchantment.
3 1.3 Purpose
This is an innovative study as the purpose is to explore the relationship between enchantment and brand experience which, as mentioned above, is a concept that has not been researched as much before. In order to get an understanding of how brand experiences create enchantment in a real-life context, we have chosen to make a case study, focusing on analysing how the brand Polestar creates enchantment through their brand experiences. The aim of the study is to further the research within enchantment in the concept of brand experience with the purpose to understand how brand experiences can create enchantment. This will help marketers continuous work to form a relevant and successful brand experience both online and physically that meet today’s demand for enchantment.
1.4 Research question
- How do brand experiences create enchantment?
1.5 Why we chose Polestar for the study
Polestar is a new, innovative brand with an unorthodox car selling business. They have a strong online presence, compared to other car companies, while still keeping some of their physical presence through spaces, which are their physical showrooms. Polestar was chosen as a case study brand as they create novel brand experience both online as well as physically, and as they have gone their own way, they have chosen to create experiences for their consumers in new ways, for example by relying on stores without salesmen, a large online presence and pure web- based purchasing systems.
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2. Theoretical Framework
In order to fulfil our purpose and analyse how brand experiences create enchantment, different theories within the field of brand experience will be presented. First, brand experience is presented in order to give an overview of the topic, then experiential marketing and brand experience online followed by theories regarding enchantment and authenticity.
2.1 Brand experience
Enchantment is crucial in today's branding, as Hartmann and Ostberg (2013) states, and one key factor within branding is the brand experience. In order to analyse how enchantment can be created through brand experience, an understanding of existing theories within brand experience is needed.
According to Doyle (2016) brand experience is described as “the total experience the customers have of the branded product and service”. Simply put, it is more than just an impression, it is a fully fledged journey where consumption of the brand is processed for the customer through different experiences made by the brand in question.
Brakus et al. (2009) described brand experience as full of sensations, feelings, cognitions and behavioural responses' which are awoken by a brand's identity, design, personality, and communication. Brakus et al. (2009) acknowledges five dimensions through which these brand experiences affect consumers; sensorial, intellectual, behavioural, affective, and social, an overview of these five dimensions can be seen in figure 1. Together they touch several parts of the consumers' ability to experience positive or negative effects of a brand as well as its strength and intensity (Brakus et al., 2009).
Figure 1: Brakus (2009) dimensions of brand experience.
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Many companies have gone from the concept of visualizing only a brand image and moved forward in which every single marketing experience is part of the brand's design. This includes the visual image, the brand design, the practice, the performance, services etc. Essentially, every single step of a brand's product lifecycle creates a type of stimuli for the consumer and it is therefore important to design them to reflect the stimuli which the brand seeks to evoke (Brakus et al. 2009). This is something that Brakus et al. (2009) has emphasized when explaining that the brand experience’s first step starts when consumers search for products and services or are exposed through advertisement in an indirect exposition. Then there is the second step, namely the one they experience when interacting directly with the brand through shops and services.
The final step of the brand experience is the actual consumption of the brand which happens during or after the use of the product or service itself. Figure 2 gives an overview of the three steps.
Figure 2: Illustration of Brakus (2009) steps of consumption.
Brakus et al. (2009) proposes that brand experiences are subjective to the consumer in a way that differs a lot from other types of marketing experience theories as it is based on stimuli affected from colours, shapes, slogans, communications etc. instead of typical “utilitarian product attributes” such as thirst, hunger or other needs asserting its exposition of consumers preferences which can make an immediate impact on consumption. Another important note to conceptualize about the subjective manner of brand experience is which type of stimuli that is awoken. Brakus et al. (2009) implies that there is no rule of what type of stimuli within the five dimensions should be affected. For example, a certain type of design may affect one individual's senses (which may be the company's goal) but social factors make another consumer experience the design in another way.
Brand experience aims to impact the consumers' stimuli through different sensational processes and techniques. Coelho F, Bairrada and Coelho A (2019) provides an insight of two characteristics which brand experience can offer customers to ultimately create value. By offering products and services that attribute innovation and quality the consumer recognises a stronger brand experience. Effectively the more a product or service can simulate some sort of
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innovation, whether it be by use or feel, the higher the quality is perceived by consumers (Coelho et al., 2019).
2.2 Experiential marketing
As this study seeks to answer how brand experiences create enchantment it is important to get an understanding of existing theories within brand experience in order to further analyse how enchantment can be created. Schmitt’s (1999) research on experiential marketing has worked a base for a lot of the research on today's brand experience and explains why it is important to create an experience for consumers, and how this can be created.
Within experiential marketing, consumers are seen as rational as well as emotionally driven.
This theory emphasizes the importance of not only thinking about the product, but instead put more focus on how the products as well as the packaging and advertising can result in enhancing the consumption experience, fundamentally aiming it to be holistic (Schmitt, 1999).
A framework, constructed by Schmitt (1999), focuses on five different experiences that can be created by marketers through e.g., identity, media, and communication. The experiences discussed by Schmitt (1999) are divided into the dimensions; sense, feel, think, act, and relate.
This is shown below in figure 3. According to Schmitt (1999) consumers today want to consume products, communication and marketing that touches their hearts, stir their senses and their minds, something they can feel a connection to and put directly into their lives.
Schmitt (2009) states that consumers today are looking for and longing for authenticity and something real.
There are a couple of key characteristics within experiential marketing, one of them is that it focuses on creating a holistic experience for the consumers. The focus is no longer on the product, but rather about creating a broader meaning for the consumer. Another characteristic is that consumers are emotional, and not only rational which was something that traditional marketing predominantly focused on. Consumers are essentially affected by emotions just as much as they are driven by rational choices (Schmitt, 1999).
Schmitt (1999) follows to explain the five different elements in his framework within experiential marketing. The sensory experience can be created through smell, taste, touch, sight and sound which can be useful in order to differentiate both products and companies, add value amongst consumers as well as motivate them.
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The aim in feel marketing is to create an affective experience, through marketing that connects to a consumer’s emotions and feelings. In order to do this a deep understanding of how to stir consumers emotions is needed Schmitt (1999).
The think factor focuses on creating problem-solving and cognitive experiences, that appeals to the intellect as well as engages in the consumers creatively. Divergent as well as convergent thinking are appealed through intrigue, surprise, and provocation Schmitt (1999).
The act marketing focuses on consumers' physical experiences and how to enrich their lives in different ways with different lifestyles. In order to do so, role models can be a strategic solution within marketing in order to motivate changes in behaviour and lifestyles amongst consumers Schmitt (1999).
According to Schmitt (1999) some portions of the four parts mentioned above, can be found in the fifth part within experiential marketing, relate. The focus within relate marketing is to connect to consumers who want self-improvement, their ideal self. It does not only focus on one individuals’ personal feelings, it's more focused on a broader social system where a need of wanting to be viewed in a positive way amongst others.
Figure 3: Schmitt’s (1999) five dimensions
As mentioned above, the aim is to create a holistic experience. The traditional marketing that was used before this age has provided a lot of valuable strategies. However, as the shift from a solely physical presence to a more online presence has started, a change in attention is needed towards a much larger focus on consumer- and brand experiences.
8 2.3 Brand experience online
As mentioned above, today more and more companies are shifting to an online presence. The online presence creates new additional brand experiences, and it is therefore important for brands to also create a successful virtual brand experience. Some elements that are highlighted as important when creating a physical brand experience do not work in the online context. The previous research about brand experience will therefore be complemented with theories about brand experience online in order to further analyse how brand experiences online can create enchantment amongst consumers.
2.3.1 Constantinides virtual factors
Constantinides (2004) addresses how brands can be competitive online. Marketers can create a positive experience by focusing on three different factors that form the virtual experience for the consumer.
Functionality factors, which creates an experience based on the functionality of the specific brand’s website, such as its interactivity and usability. The usability focuses on making the experience easy and straightforward. The site is easy to navigate, has a comfortable structure, overall being as user-friendly as possible. Interactivity, however, focuses on creating a personalized experience through interaction with both the vendors online as well as interaction with other users online (Constantinides, 2004).
The second factor is the psychological factor, which focuses on creating an experience based on trustworthiness through communicating credibility and integrity. Trust is a factor within online web experience that is crucial in order to create a positive perception of the brand amongst the consumers (Constantinides, 2004).
The third factor is the content factor which Constantinides (2004) divides into aesthetics elements and marketing mix elements. The aesthetics factor consists of the atmosphere, design and overall quality of presentation. The marketing mix consists of factors such as communication, characteristics, and price. Due to the lack of physical contact through the web, it is highly important that these are communicated well in order to still create an experience for the consumers. Products features and the presentation are also factors within this that can create a positive experience. Factors such as 3D product presentations can attract consumers with its new high quality and high-tech designs. Promotion could also have a positive impact on the experience, though creating a unique, extra free of charge service.
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2.3.2 Hamzah’s dimensions of online brand experiences
Hamzah, Alwi and Othman (2014) discusses different dimensions of brand experience online.
Hamzah et al. (2014) states that brand experience online is based on five different dimensions according to their study of how brand experience online within banking is perceived from the consumers. Hamzah’s five dimensions is based on Schmitt’s dimensions within experiential marketing.
Dimension one is visual identity. While Schmitt (1999) argues about the element sense, which includes scent, sound, touch, sight, and taste, Hamzah et al. (2014) discusses visual identity which includes factors such as a brands slogan, colours, design, and name. A concrete visual identity is an important part, according to Hamzah et al. (2014) in order to differentiate themselves as well as gaining recognition.
The second dimension is the emotional experience. Similarly to Schmitt’s (1999) feel factor, this dimension involves emotions and feelings. Hamzah et al. (2014) discusses this in connection to the brands web site and the emotions that arise for the consumers when visiting the web site, which can be positive as well as negative. Within the online concept, Hamzah et al. (2014) states that safety has a big impact on the consumers emotions.
The third dimension is functionality. Hamzah et al. (2014) mentions that the focus is on creating an experience through creative thinking and curiosity, which can be linked to Schmitt’s think factor. Focus on this dimension online is to create an experience of "feeling in control" for the consumer. With this comes freedom as the consumer can control when to for example make a purchase, as well an experience that is pressure-free (Hamzah et al, 2014).
The fourth dimension is lifestyle, which can be connected to Schmitt’s act factor where focus is on a change in lifestyle and behaviour. The consumers in Hamzah et al.’s (2014) study within online banking, states that their banking online presence has resulted in a simplified lifestyle. It adds flexibility as they have the option to decide to now do their errands online. Hamzah et al.
(2014) states that this can benefit the company as the consumers then associates their simplified lifestyle with the brand.
Dimension five is self-identity. Hamzah et al. (2014) states that individual status and self-image as well as prestige and modernity are important factors to the already existing factors within Schmitt’s (1999) relate factor. Hamzah et al. (2014) focuses more on the personal self-identity
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though, such as how banking online could result in an improved self-image as it can lead to a person looking up-to-date and prestigious within their society.
2.4 Enchantment
In order to further analyse how enchantment can be created through brand experiences, an understanding of what enchantment is and how it can be created is needed. Previous research within enchantment will therefore be presented.
The word enchantment can be defined as something that attracts or catches the attention of someone (vocabulary, n.d.). Products, brands, and people can enchant through charisma, through creating a captivated feeling, and/or through creating a feeling of great delight of something that someone finds wonderful or unusual (yourdictionary, n.d.). Hartmann and Brunk (2018) also states that enchantment is a consistent factor in most branding and marketing activities today. Enchantment according to Hartmann and Brunk (2018) is "the rendering of the ordinary into something special", creating something exciting, emotionally charged as well as magical.
Due to the growing demand for enchantment amongst consumers today and the importance of differentiation between brands, creating enchantment can be seen as critical in order to attract today's consumers. According to Bashford (2007), the result of a saturated market has led to brand names being less effective in acquiring the attention of consumers (especially for smaller and newer brands) leading to them requiring something to stand out in other ways instead. This could for example be an incentive to join a community, to test something new or something else that makes the consumer enchanted in the brand and want to engage.
Everyday life is focused on rationality, a reasonableness that has resulted in a reduced imagination, wonder, romance, and magic in today’s society. Max Weber (1958) already brought this up in the mid-1900s as a sign of the market turning towards a bureaucratic movement, removing disenchantment of the world. But as enchantment, or the feeling of something special, is an important part for humans, the need for enchantment is growing which also leads to a growing demand for brands to create enchantment (Hartmann & Brunk, 2018).
Malefyt (2017) discusses enchantment further by connecting it to modern technology.
There is a widespread enchantment today of modern technology which can add to consumers emotional value and form a sense of magic. Malefyt (2017) mentions how intelligent
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technology is powerful and could enchant consumers with increasing trust in today’s technology. The enchantment of intelligent objects can emotionally affect us, so instead of the distant cold technology of the past, it has today turned into something more pleasing and warmer.
Malefyt (2017) also states the importance of the aesthetic aspect and that the feel and the look of objects matters, implying that today's digital object provides high quality aesthetic design and comfort. This results in that modern technology can fill the gap between the practical activities of everyday life and the emotional want of something magical and extraordinary (Malefyt, 2017). He further discusses that today’s technology enhances the world we live in as well as creates new ways of seeing things. Today’s technology can create new realities as well as alter today's reality. One example that was discussed was that visitors in a museum can get an enhanced sensory experience through touch screens. The traditional way of going to a museum involves a more static way of displaying objects, while now people could feel more engaged in the exhibit through touch screens (Malefyt, 2017).
2.5 Authenticity
According to Hartmann and Ostberg (2013) there is a strong connection between enchantment and authenticity. The authenticity of a brand could have an impact on the consumers experience and perception of the brand, which makes it an important factor for creating a positive experience amongst the consumers that could result in a captivating, extraordinary, enchanting experience.
As technology has gone in fast-forward speed for the last decades, the spectrum between authentic and replicable goods has shrunk to a fine line which has led to an increased demand for authentic goods. However, the definition of what is authentic and not can be debated but it is often referred to something that is original, or genuine. Fritz, Choenmueller and Bruhn (2017) describes two types of perceptions in terms of authenticity values among customers, namely, indexical authenticity and iconic authenticity. An overview of indexical and iconic authenticity is given in table 1.
Indexical authenticity could be defined as "the real thing" and "the original", whilst iconic authenticity is more about the consumers own authenticity associations (Fritz et al., 2017). One example of the two; Indexical authenticity can be linked to one person feeling like the only
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authentic way of celebrating Midsummer is by celebrating it in Sweden, whilst another person finds it enough to celebrate Midsummer and its traditions in another country.
Table 1: Fritz et al. (2017) types of authenticity
Schmitt (2009) states that consumers today are looking and longing for authenticity and something real. The demand of authentic brands amongst consumers today is rising (Fritz et al., 2017) and many companies today aim to create authenticity, according to Hartmann and Ostberg (2013).
Hartmann and Ostberg (2013) describes the value of authenticity as something that allows the consumer to connect to something “genuine and true” and demonstrates that experiences as well as objects are made authentic, rather than seeing authenticity as existing in an experience or in a product. Hartmann and Ostberg (2013) also discusses that authenticity does not always have to be positive, a boring or a dangerous experience can still be authentic but instead of being enchanting it could result in disenchantment. A disenchanting experience is easier linked to not being authentic, while an enchanted experience is easier linked or seen as authentic.
Hartmann and Ostberg (2013) presents association as a key component in creating enchantment. When a brand is linked to associate elements, enchantment can be created through the association with for example a specific country.
Ostberg (2011) further explains associations between a product or a brand and the country of origin and also highlights the connection between country of origin and authenticity. Hartmann and Ostberg (2013) also mentions authenticity as an important part today for consumers as it can be linked to something that is real.
There are three ways that a country of origin can influence the consumer. Cognitive, the quality of a product can be linked to country of origin which could have positive or negative impact on the consumer. Affective, which means that consumers can have emotional and symbolic value/connections with the country of origin. Normative, personal norms as well as social
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norms, such as buying products that are produced locally in order to minimize the effect of the environment, influences the consumer (Ostberg, 2011).
The reason for linking a product or service, or in this case a brand, to a geographical location is that it translates to cognitive reactions among consumers. In a world where globalisation is making the market increasingly saturated and production is based all over the world, the idea of country-of-origin authenticity emphasizes that the goal is for the product to be related to a place rather than the goal of being produced there. A connection very similar to that of iconic authenticity. This makes it easier for the brand to stand out by connecting themselves to that origin through stories, cultures and superlatives which enriches the experience for the consumers. Ostberg (2011) empowers this thought by explaining how the brands show their intentions to move in a certain direction by using a country-of-origin that has the same idea or similar affiliation and through that “leverage certain cultural resources”. This shows that even though a brand may not be from that certain place, you can still present certain symbols to easily portray meaningful aspects of the brands’ experience. For example, O’Leary’s while being portrayed as an American bar- and sports restaurant, is simply a Swedish franchise-brand that embodies cultural symbols and artifacts in order to authenticate their mantra of being American.
Another way is to almost “over-do” it by making as much as possible country-referenced. IKEA does this by naming all their furniture as random Swedish names such as “LAPPLAND” or Swedish words such as “BESTÅ”.
14 3. Method
In this chapter the methods for the study will be presented, motivated, and explained. Firstly, an overview of the research approach is presented. Then the data collection methods are presented, followed by additional observations, ethical considerations, limitations and pandemic considerations. Lastly, information about Polestar will be presented under method context.
3.1 Research approach
As the purpose of the study was to get an understanding of how brands, e.g. Polestar, creates enchantment through their brand experience, a qualitative research approach was chosen. When studying subjective experiences and specific situations, a qualitative method is suitable (Flick, 2010) and can be used to understand concepts, experiences and thoughts in order to get a deeper insight into a subject. This can be done by using qualitative methods such as interviews. The research method is also fitting when seeking to explain why or how questions (Patel & Davidson, 2011).
According to Flick (2010) the data collection could be either primary, where the data is collected directly by the researcher, or secondary, where the data already has been collected by other researchers. The primary data in this study was collected through semi-structured interviews and through netnographic observations. These methods were chosen in order to get an in-depth insight into the phenomenon of enchantment within the context of brand experience. Due to the covid-19 we decided to not perform any interviews directly with consumers and instead focused solely on netnography. How the interviews were conducted as well as the netnography study will be further presented under chapter 3.2 Data collection. The secondary data was collected through websites and articles and different newspaper articles as well as websites were studied in order to gather information of how Polestar presents their brand experience. Table 2 presents an overview of the chosen data collection methods.
In order to meet the purpose of the study, a case study approach was chosen. This research design is suitable when answering questions such as why and how and when studying a "current phenomenon in a real-life context" (Strange, Gronhaug & Ghauri 2020, p.103). The phenomenon in this case study is enchantment through brand experience and the real-life context, in order to analyse this, is Polestar.
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Table 2: Overview of data collection method.
3.2 Data collection
How the interviews, netnography as well as additional observations were conducted will be presented in this chapter.
3.2.1 Interview
In order to gather specific and relevant data regarding how Polestar creates enchantment online through brand experience, we chose to conduct qualitative interviews with employees at Polestar. In order to fulfil the purpose of the study, the interview questions were centred around brand experience and enhancement. As this study is currently made in the times of Covid-19, we chose to use distancing methods i.e. virtual meetings and emails, when conducting the interviews.
Two interviews were conducted with two different employees at Polestar. One interview was conducted virtually over Skype with Fredrik, who is Head of Ownership experience at Polestar and the other interview was conducted through email with Pär, Head of Brand. The interviews were semi-structured as we based the interviews of a specific topic, but compared to a structured interview, we wanted to give the respondents more space to express their thoughts and talk more freely as well as give us the possibility to ask follow up questions in order to get a deeper understanding of the topic. An email explaining the study, the purpose and a description of the study, was sent out to employees at Polestar who we thought would be able to provide the information that we were after. The interviewees were selected based on their professional role within the field of brand experience, such as head of brand, head of ownership experience, head of brand experience and experience officer.
A framework of questions was then created before the interviews (can be found in the appendix), but as we wanted to create a conversation and a dialog, the framework worked solely as a guide and not as a set scheme. The questionnaire was pre-tested on test persons, which
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Strange et al. (2020) states as important in order to get a sense of how the questions are received by the respondents. The interview guide was then sent out five days before the video interview took place, and seven days before the deadline for the email-interview in order for them to prepare and make sure that they had enough time in their schedule to participate in the interview.
As mentioned above, the interviews were semi-structured. During the video interview the respondents got follow up questions such as "How?" and "Why?". This gave us the opportunity to go further in depth into the questions and answers that we wanted to get a deeper understanding of. In order to have a more open dialog, we started off the interviews with some open questions which further on got more specific which is a preferred method in getting a natural dialog according to Patel and Davidson (2011). The order of the question could also be adjusted, which according to Patel and Davidson (2011) can result in a more natural dialog and deeper answers. The interview guide was adjusted depending on which platform the interview was held. The video interview guide consisted of more and deeper questions while the email interview guide consisted of fewer questions. When preparing for the email interview, the lack of interaction had to be taken into consideration and the interview guide was altered and presented in a different way as the dialog between the respondent and the interviewer was not direct. Follow up questions such as "why" and "how" were added to some of the questions that we wanted to get a deeper understanding of and the respondent also gave us the opportunity to email back if we had any follow up questions.
We chose with the respondent’s approval to record the interview. This made it possible for us to be as active and involved as possible in the interview as taking notes during the interview according to Bryman (2018) could be a distraction. Once the video interview was done, we listened through the recordings and transcribed it.
3.2.2 Netnography
The data that was gathered through interviews gave us an understanding of how Polestar creates enchantment through their brand experience. As a complement to this, netnography was chosen as another research method, as it allowed us to further our research and collect data through observations, in order to understand how enchantment is created through Polestar's brand experience from the receptors' points of view.
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Kozinets (2011) describes netnography as "an adaption of ethnography for the online world".
While ethnography is a method that is focused on conducting data through participant observations, netnography conducts data from observing already existing interactions and communications online in order to look after commonalities (Kozinets, 2011).
More people than ever share their thoughts, activities as well as experiences online that can be collected and analysed. According to Simmons (2008) netnography is a research method that is highly relevant in today's society. Kozinets (2002) also highlights netnography as less time consuming compared to ethnography as well as stating that online observations are less obtrusive. Nenography was a fitting method for this study as we still could conduct observations but still follow the pandemic guidelines of distancing as the observations were done online. Due to the time limit of ten weeks, it was also a fitting method as it, as Kozinets (2002) states, is less time consuming. Figure 4 gives an overview of the netnographic data collection process.
Figure 4: Illustration of the progression of Netnography
Kozinets (2002) describes the method of using netnography as an analysis of a specific set of communicative acts and not every single observational act. So, rather than observing every communicative act that we could find throughout the observations, we were observing a set of specific acts, such as invitations, greetings, requests, complaints and compliments. This can of course be interpreted differently but the most important part was to find a pattern and insights which our theory could be analysed through. Observing at first-hand what consumers think of the brand experience was of great importance in order to fulfil the purpose of the study by getting an understanding of which dimensions of brand experience that was presented to the consumers as well as how Polestar enchants through their brand experiences.
Using netnography as a method when collecting data comes with benefits such as the ones stated above, but netnography could also be challenging. One of the challenges is that it contains much information, according to Kozinets (2002) which can make it challenging to find the key data in the ocean of information. In order to minimize the risk of abundant data, we limited the observations to six relevant online platforms. Kozinets (2010) further states that the selected data should come from relevant, interactive, data-rich and relevant online sites. We opted to
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observe online sites relevant to Polestar, such as Polestars forums, fan brand pages, Polestars Instagram and Facebook page to gather reviews, opinions, comments and conversations in order to analyse what factors within Polestars brand experience that creates enchantment from the consumers point of view. During the netnographic observations we gathered a total of 103 statements, such as reviews, opinions, comments, and conversations.
As Kozinets (2002) states, it is important for the researchers to choose which data to save and pursue, due to the amount of data that is accessible when conducting netnographic observations.
The data that was saved and pursued was guided by the study’s research question and the resources that were available. The material gathered from the online platforms, such as comments, reviews, complaints, complements, was then divided into the following categories:
design, technology, feel, transparency and sustainability. These categories were chosen as they were the most frequently mentioned. This was done in order to analyse the material and connect it to how different factors create enchantment.
3.2.3 Additional observations
Because of the pandemic that was limiting our observations, additional observations were conducted by us in order to get an understanding of the user experience of Polestar's app and website. We both visited Polestar online homepage and app, the focus here was to get a feel of how Polestar creates a brand experience through the app and website and what consumers feel when entering Polestar’s marketing channels. We also utilized insights, through pictures on their website, from the physical Polestar showroom (which they call a “space”). The idea was to visit one of the Polestar spaces which was located in Gothenburg, however the pandemic restrictions led us instead to rely on observations from their website which included pictures and images of that same space. We also gathered insight from Polestar advertisements on TV as well as from their press releases which were then used in the analysis.
3.4 Ethical considerations
Bryman and Bell (2011) states four principles in ethical business research; harm, lack of consent, invasion of privacy and deception. Harm could imply physical or psychological harm, or harm that could affect the participants career and future. It is the researcher’s responsibility to minimize the harm and negative effect that can arise from the participation, one way of doing this is to provide anonymity. Another important factor within ethical considerations is lack of consent. In order to give the participants, the option to decide if they want to participate, enough
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information for them to make an informed decision is important. Deception could arise if not the whole picture or the true picture of the research is represented to the participants. Invasion of privacy could arise if the questions are too private or sensitive according to the participants.
It is important for researchers to not intrude on the participants privacy and if doing so, give the participants the option to withdraw.
Ethical consideration was considered when conducting the interviews. To avoid ethical misconducts and give the participants the option to decide if they wanted to be a part of the interviews, we decided to include information about the study as well as the purpose of the interviews in the first email we send out, avoiding the possibility of lack of consent and any type of deception. When conducting the two interviews the respondents were asked if they wanted their names to be included or if they wanted to be anonymous, in order to avoid any harm that could affect their career but as they gave us their permission to use their names, we decided to include their names in the study when referencing. The questions during our interviews were only related and focused on the brand Polestar meaning the risk of invading their privacy was minimal.
During the netnographic observations the ethical considerations were also taken into consideration. The ethical factor when conducting netnography is an important part to acknowledge, according to Kozinet (2002), who highlights two main ethical questions that have emerged when conducting online observations; “are online forums public or private and what can be constituted as consent?”. As observers we took on a non-participant approach which, according to Strange et al. (2020), means that we observed participants online but did not take part ourselves in the forums. The observations took place on open online forums, where posts are aimed for everyone to read, but as the participants that we observed are not aware of these observations, and with questions such as “are online forums public or private'' and “what can be constituted as consent”, we decided to give them anonymity. This also minimizes any risk of harm that could arise from using the participants names.
Additionally, the study was performed by pure theoretic interest with no intention to draw interest from Polestar that would be considered unethical or sponsored. The same thing goes for the purpose of interests. The study is considered having a neutral stand by us, the authors, which means that we do not aim to make Polestar look better nor worse in any way, shape or form.
20 3.5 Limitations
In this section, limitations of the interviews and observations will be presented. In order to gather relevant data from relevant sources, we decided to only interview Polestar employees who in some degree work with marketing, brand experience or customer experience in their role within Polestar. This meant that we limited ourselves to employees with knowledge within these areas.
For the netnography, to gather relevant information in order to answer our purpose we decided to only review and include posts relevant to Polestars rebranding to an electric car brand, meaning from 2017 and forward. Simply said, we would only focus on Polestar’s electric cars when investigating product reviews as well as upcoming models which were in place of discussions.
3.6 Pandemic considerations
As the pandemic covid-19 struck the world in 2020, we want to acknowledge how this affected the study and the challenges that came with it.
Due to covid-19 the research methods had to be altered in order to follow guidelines such as social distancing. The interviews conducted would preferably have been face-to face but instead the interviews were held over Skype and email. The observations were also affected by the guidelines, which resulted in conducting observations solely online due to the restrictions.
Offline observations, such as physically visiting Polestars spaces would have been beneficial in order to observe participants offline as a compliment to the online observations. These observations would also allow us as researchers to get an understanding of how they are designed. Luckily, this could be solved through the images available online which illustrates the two spaces in Sweden, as well as recent memory of visit since we live very near the Polestar space in Gothenburg. We also tried to limit this challenge by asking the interviewees about their thoughts of the showrooms designs.
The research methods used in this study had to be somewhat changed in order to follow the covid-19 guidelines but should have limited impact on the final result of the study and the findings.
21 3.7 Research context
Polestar was presented briefly in the introduction together with a chapter of why Polestar was chosen as a case study brand for this study. In this chapter, Polestar will be presented more in depth.
In 1996, Polestar originated as a racing team that helped Volvos racing division and with the success through the year’s Volvo decided in 2015 to buy up Polestar as their own performance brand (volvocarsmission, n.d.). The collaboration continued and additional business models were implemented, for example tuning and optimizing certain Volvo parts. In 2017, however, Polestar went in a completely different direction and became an independent brand with focus on electric cars made for the future, but they still kept their focus on performance (zgh, n.d.).
Having only existed for three years, they have since 2017 developed two models: Polestar 1 and Polestar 2.
Polestar has entered the automotive market with an innovative strategy. In the traditional car selling industry, cars are displayed and shown in a car store along with car salesmen selling the car to you. Polestar are instead relying on selling the cars online alongside a few spaces in certain cities. The Polestar spaces are showrooms where consumers physically can go and look at the cars. However, there are no salesmen or service desks, Polestar has chosen to distance themselves from the traditional way of selling cars. In the spaces, the focus is on the cars, there are a couple of hosts who can help the consumers with any questions, but the rest is solved via their online store or app (Polestar, n.d.).
22 4. Result & analysis
In this section, an overview of the analysis will first be presented followed by the analysis of how brand experiences create enchantment which will be divided into three main factors.
4.1 Overview
The purpose of this study is to analyse how brand experiences create enchantment which is analysed through a case study of Polestar. We found three main factors within Polestar's brand experience that creates enchantment: enchantment through an authentic Scandinavian feel, enchantment through minimalistic and modern design, and enchantment through innovative consumer-focused technology. Table 5 gives an overview of the three main factors. The three main elements are in some areas overlapping as they build on the same brand experience but complement each other with areas not covered by the rest. Furthermore, the three factors are not completely exhaustive, but they are the areas most prominent from our research. These three main factors will be analysed and further explained in the sections below.
Figure 5: Illustration of the three main factors within Polestars brand experience that creates enchantment, based on the collected data.
4.2 Enchantment through authentic Scandinavian feel
When collecting data from the observations and interviews one of the themes that was continually repeated was the Scandinavian authenticity and feel, and it became clear that Polestar's Scandinavian authentic feel is an important factor within their brand experience in order to create enchantment.
As Ostberg’s (2011) article states, the connection to a country-of-origin can be powerful which Hartmann and Ostberg (2013) also highlights when stating that a brand can create enchantment
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through the geography that it is associated with. However, instead of linking the brand to a particular country, Polestar links the brand to the geographical area Scandinavia and the associations that comes with the Scandinavian feel.
According to the website Scandinavian standards (2020) a Scandinavian feel can be visualized and presented in everything from technology, design, safety etc. The association that comes with Scandinavian feel is beauty combined with function, architectural simplicity, moderate and light-coloured designs as well as aesthetically and advanced high-tech electronics.
“Polestar is a global brand but our core and design comes from here [Scandinavia]” - Martin Ölund, Polestar CEO Sweden (Lönnroth, 2020)
”We are a design driven company - we try to mediate the Scandinavian clean design.”
– Fredrik, Head of Ownership experience at Polestar
According to the interviewees at Polestar, the company aims to create and mediate this Scandinavian feel through their design both online and through their spaces. They create their Scandinavian feel by, for example, using light colours, such as white and grey to create a clean experience. Their design is not "extra", it is more focused on creating a minimalistic, simple and elegant experience. The approach aims to create a strong Scandinavian association, which may, according to Ostberg (2011), spur authenticity by connecting the brand with the country- of-origin.
“Everyone knows Swedish vehicles are those most dependable western vehicles to the extent that on the commercial vehicle end they're one of the best”. - Netnography
“Inside, all occupants are held securely in place by Swedish gold three-point seatbelts unique to the Polestar and Polestar Engineered brands. On the outside, the forged 20- inch alloy wheels are complemented with the set of distinctive Swedish gold valve caps”.
– Polestar (2020a)
The “Swedishness” of Polestar is also highly discussed amongst consumers and fans, and being a key component of Scandinavia this further indicates that the Scandinavian connection is an important factor. According to the observations above conducted through netnography, the Scandinavian feel mediate quality and safety as Swedish vehicles have gained a reputation to be dependable. The netnographic observations also show that both the consumers and Polestars roots to Sweden creates an important connection between the consumer and the brand. As seen
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above, Polestar uses the words "Swedish" when describing the safety aspect of their seatbelts as well as their valve caps, showing that Polestar actively chooses to highlight the Swedish and Scandinavian factors within their brand. This could also be linked to Ostbergs (2011) discussion of how the country of origin can influence consumers. The above comments can be connected to what he calls cognitive, whereas the relation between Polestar and Sweden have a positive impact on the consumer as he/she connects Polestar to Sweden's associations to high quality and safety.
“The visual brand identity of Polestar is the result of this [Scandinavian] passion. It is created in the same way and with the same uncompromised attention to detail as all Polestar products. To create a superficial visual package to express this perfectionist approach would simply not have been authentic or good enough.” – Polestar (2018) The findings from the netnographic observations show that consumers think of Polestar as an authentic Scandinavian brand, and Polestar, as mentioned, is pushing this feel through their marketing and their brand experience highlighting their Scandinavian association.
However, Polestar is owned by a Chinese company and their production is not based in Sweden.
When analysing this through Fritz et al.’s (2017) authenticity theory it seems like Polestar has created an iconic authenticity. Even though Polestar would have been more “real” and
“original” as far as authenticity goes by having the production in Sweden and having complete Swedish ownership, Polestar have successfully created an authentic Scandinavian feel where people associate Polestar with Scandinavia and Sweden even without the “realness”. Through the netnographic observation we found that consumers seem to think that it is enough for Polestar to market themselves as a Scandinavian brand, and creating an overall Scandinavian and Swedish feel, for them to consider them as authentic.
“Those Swedish roots and design that considers cold weather is another strong reason why I chose the Polestar over a Tesla.” - Netnography
Regarding the brand experience from Polestar’s Scandinavian feel, three of the elements in Schmitt (1999) model can be found, namely: sense, feel and relate. The first element is sense, which according to Schmitt (1999) can create a sensory experience for the consumers through factors such as sound, smell, sight, taste and touch. The sight and visual aspects that Polestar use online, in advertising and for the cars, can create a sense experience by using elements, such as light and cold colours and a minimalistic feel, that are associated with Scandinavia in order
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to create an elevated sense experience. Regarding the second Schmitt’s (1999) element feel, Polestar's Scandinavian approach creates feelings such as dependability, safety and high-quality amongst consumers, often as a sign of homage linking it to positive emotions via other Swedish brands such as Volvo and IKEA. As mentioned before, the feel module connects with consumers' emotions as well as feelings, in which Polestar uses their Scandinavian authentic feel in order to stir emotions that seem to be positive amongst many of their consumers and fans. The Scandinavian feel that they have created throughout the brand and brand experience can make consumers feel like they are associated with something bigger, connected to a group or lifestyle, which can create a relate experience, as Schmitt (1999) discusses. The factors from Schmitt’s (1999) framework used in the analysis of Scandinavian feel is presented in table 3.
Table 3: Schmitt’s (2009) dimensions in terms of Scandinavian feel
The analysis of the findings regarding Scandinavian feel suggests that Polestar is really focused on providing an authentic experience to their consumers and that their consumers are confirming that this is something that is key for them and their experience. Compared to many of their competitors where the association to country-of origin is the quality of the car or high performance for a low cost, examples being Germany and Japan, Polestar takes a broader scope and includes the associations in all of their brand experience from the spaces and car designs to the visuals used in their online channels. Having the authentic Scandinavian feel as a cornerstone in their brand experience and as a differentiator compared to many other brands in the market, Polestar are successfully creating a holistic extraordinary and enchanting experience in their different channels for their consumers through the Scandinavian minimalism and elegance, the Swedish heritage and the associations that comes with that as well as providing an authentic experience.
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4.3 Enchantment through minimalistic and modern design
As Brakus et al. (2009) states, design impacts the brand experience. If successfully doing so, an extraordinary experience can be created. From the interviews and the netnographic study it appears as Polestar uses design elements in their brand experience that creates an extraordinary experience, captivates the consumers, and creates enchantment.
Design can be defined as “a plan for arranging elements in such a way as best to accomplish a particular purpose”, according to Moses (2020). Moses (2020) builds upon a theory of Roberts (1982) stating that design should make the customer be affected through different senses.
“When you enter [a space] it is more like an art museum rather than entering a store such as zara or GinaTricot. [At Zara and GinaTricot] There is so much stuff that you get overwhelmed. Instead in the spaces it is design-clean and clinical” – Fredrik, Head of ownership experience
When conducting the interviews, the interviewees highlighted Polestar's design aspect used in their brand experience, from online design factors to car design, as an important part within the brand experience.
“We only want to make the best possible cars and communicate these in a relevant way.
To get people to listen, or in the right mood, we work with the tools that we have as designers. Yes, we see ourselves as designers - not as marketers! We are very detail- focused and perfectionists.” - Pär, Head of brand at Polestar
The respondents clearly highlight Polestars’ design as a tool within their brand experience to get their consumer in the right mindset, to get them to listen, and to get their attention. They explain further by saying that their spaces are not designed as many other physical stores or spaces, such as clothing stores as Zara and Gina tricot, which are built in order to show as many products as possible. Instead, Polestar's aim is to design their brand experiences as minimally and scaled back as possible in order to see the details.
"We want to create environments that influence visitors in the same way that art galleries, museums and concert halls do." – Fredrik, Head of ownership experience at Polestar
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The goal with the minimalistic and scaled back design is to create an experience just like the one that can be created through visiting a museum. When going into a museum, people lower their voices, and the senses sharpen which makes it possible for the consumer to see all the details. According to the interviewees, it is not about creating a laid-back cosy feeling, where the consumers get a homey-feeling, instead they have actively chosen not to use sense factors such as music and smells to enhance the experience in other ways. They want the consumers on their toes, to be aware of all the details and experience something bigger. The aim is to create a design and architecture that opens the space just like a church, and that creates a feeling of something bigger, something extraordinary.
“The design is described as distinctive, characteristic and simple but rich on detail, to introduce a new brand on a saturated market is not simple task” - Red dot when awarding Polestar Brand of the year (Sanden, 2020)
“We try to create a homogeneous experience, and that you feel “this is Polestar”. Using grey and that kind of tone for the most part, clean, simple, clear, eye-to-eye contact. We tried to remove everything around that, neon lights, etc. everything that belongs to the traditional sale. Instead, have a direct connection between the customer and us, to be able to see the customer eye to eye”. – Fredrik, Head of ownership experience at Polestar
As previously mentioned, Schmitt (1999) presents five elements of brand experience as presented in chapter 4.2. For the brand experience from the design aspect, the elements sense, feel and think will be relevant to analyse. The factors from Schmitt’s (1999) framework used in the analysis of Polestars design is presented in table 4.
Table 4: Schmitt’s (2009) dimensions in terms of design.
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As the theory states, sense is all about creating sensory experiences which could be done through sound, touch, sight, taste and smell. Based on the empirical data collected from Polestar, they do not actively try to create an experience through using a certain sound or a certain sight, instead they want to stay away from this and use a more scaled back approach in order to create an experience just like the one at a museum. Polestar states that it is the connection between them and the consumer that is the most important and that their aim is to design their spaces in a way that gets the consumers attention to the brand and on the cars.
Therefore, they do not use factors such as extreme lights and music when creating an experience, as they believe that will take attention away from the details. Nothing is over the top, it is quiet and visually calming, all so you don't miss any details. With their minimal lightning, the sound-free spaces and an overall clinical feeling Polestar creates another type of experience, an underlying experience which is subtly detectable but very much creates a captivating brand experience for the consumers. The interviewees stated that their aim of creating a space similar to a museum, inferring to details such as minimal furniture, salesmen- free halls and no music, adds to this experience. The aim is an aesthetically fulfilled experience rather than one disrupted by excitement.
Building experiences based on Schmitt (1999) second element feel, emotions naturally create behavioural responses, and it is therefore important to make those responses positive through the design. Communicating a certain feel through products and services in all channels could be very impactful on what the consumer thinks of the brand. Whether it be through cognitive thoughts or reflective responses, designing through feel could decide if emotional bonds and relationships are possible.
“On the design front, it’s job done: this is a sensational-looking machine in the metal, crisp and fresh and clean-cut, loaded with presence but wonderfully unadorned with fake vents or dummy-aero nonsense. It looks like the car the future promised.” - Netnography
The third element to be analysed from Schmitts (1999), is the think factor. The think factor appeals to the consumers intellect and engages them creatively. Polestar challenges the consumer intellect with their new, minimalistic, modern and innovative design, which is captured through mentioned netnographic observations, for example the cite above who state that the design is futuristic and innovative.
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“The target group is those who are looking for a performance car, no matter who you are. And of course are interested in electric cars. We have not done any segmentation such as white middle-aged men, for example. That is not what we want, maybe it is the target group by definition but we hope that there is a much broader target group than that.” – Fredrik, Head of ownership experience at Polestar
Having the design aspect as a core component in their brand experience is also strategically smart as the target group, according to the interviewees, are all people who are looking for a performance car. A performance car usually includes high design elements, so in order to meet the demand of the target group, the design feature is a critical factor throughout Polestar as a whole and not only the cars.
“The cars are designed in a simpler way, with fewer details, which gives them a minimalist look. Take such a thing as the rear-view mirrors have no frames. It makes them feel very modern.” – Netnography
“It is a very clean and intuitive design. Easy to find the most common features.” - Netnography
“What they [Polestar] have done is really smart, in terms of design. In fact, you do not need so many functions when driving.” – Netnography
As stated earlier, having a high-quality online brand experience is critical. According to Hamzah et al. (2014), sensory online experience, at a corporate brand, is about name, logo, slogan, colour as well as design. A brand can differentiate themself from other brands through visual identity and this could be done through factors such as the colours of the website which may appear attractive and affect the experience in a positive way. Constantinides (2004) states that the content factor is an important element for creating a successful brand experience online.
One of the elements within this factor is the aesthetics, a strong design and presentation which in turn creates a positive experience. Polestar focuses a lot on the design elements of the online experience and the consumers confirm that they successfully do so according to for example the citations above.
Polestar uses the same design throughout the brand, when creating the car design as well as when they create their brand experience in their spaces and online using a clean, minimalistic look, while being very modern. Factors such as light design with specific colours can attract
